THE ART (ER, OBSESSION) OF NAMING CHARACTERS

by Heather the Jane

Okay, I love naming characters. Absolutely – from the plain, such as George, to the not-so-plain and a bit more fun, such as Zee, Dylan and Janna Jane (who are characters in novels currently with our amazing agent). But it's not just about picking a cool name or a common name or one that has symbolic meaning (if only to this writing team). I don't just look for old names for older characters and strong names for the heroines. It's not even a matter of finding ones that are pleasing to the ear. To me at least, it's more about finding out what the character's name is, than about naming the character.

I honestly have a real hard time going into a story until the main characters have the right names. It may come at the very beginning. (I started playing with an idea for the Wilson Doherty idea bank today, and the POV character was named right from the first five keystrokes on the page, I knew exactly who she was. Not a moment of hesitation.) Or it may take me an hour or longer searching through online banks of names. I then run the suggestion(s) by my ever-patient partner and if it works for both of us, then – that's a bingo! And once Norah and I are there, I can really settle down in with George or Zee or Janna Jane and let the world roll around them.

Okay, there are a few names we both nix right away. (Ha ha – Ambrose – Norah doesn't see that as romantic. And she absolutely shoots down every 'Betty' I put on the page. I have a thing about having too many girls names ending in 'a' in a story, ie.: Melissa, Tina, Barbara, etc.)  And neither of us could ever give a character the name of one of our kids if something bad was going to happen to him/her. Yikes!

And while we're on the subject of names...

In case you're wondering about Heather the Jane, my dad used to call me 'Jane', that being my middle name, and my brother Bill still often does. So it's just a name that feels cozy perhaps. I write 'Jane' when I jot down notes to myself in manuscripts, and inadvertently, they sometimes get left in there.  When editing or proofreading an electronic document, I'll often mark my spot by typing in “Heather the Jane” to search later. (Norah has often remarked that 'Jane' seems to be our third writing partner.)  Not sure where/when 'the' entered the picture :-)

and yet, I remain,
Heather the Jane